Citizen Lab exposes cyber espionage campaign

June 2, 2016

A new report from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab reveals a sophisticated international cyber-espionage campaign targeting journalists and activists whose work concerns the United Arab Emirates. The campaign used elaborate ruses, including fake organizations and journalists, to engage targets online, then entice them to open malicious files and links containing malware capable of monitoring their activities. The research shows how the Internet is a powerful vehicle in the hands of malicious attackers, said political scientist and Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert. “Autocratic regimes like the United Arab Emirates are now routinely finding ways to subvert the tools of social media to accomplish their sinister aims. Careful research of the sort undertaken here can help journalists, activists, and others be on guard for these new threats.”

The full U of T News article is available here.

The report ‘Keep Calm and (Don’t) Enable Macros: A New Threat Actor Targets UAE Dissidents’ is available here.